(The shopping bags are deliberately out of shot so none of you can guess what you're getting!)
I've got my fingers crossed for some snow over here - it's blummin' cold enough to snow! I'll keep you posted...
Luckily, Abi didn't want to go in for the 4am 'door-buster' deals (although there was talk about staying up all night and going into town at 3.30am!), so we went into town at a far more sociable time - lunchtime. Although, it was still HEAVING with shoppers as all the stores had special deals on. The night before, on the news it said it was likely to be the most successful shopping day America's seen for a looooong time - seems the recession's fully over over here.
The shops were looking lovely and Christmassy with all their decorations up, Macy's expecially looked incredibly festive. I know that not all the shops have got their decorations up yet, so it's going to get even more sparkley in the coming weeks... so expect plenty more photos too!
We cooked the turkey in an oven bag, which was a great success, it made the meat just fall off the bone - and it kept it moist... I think we'll be doing that again, maybe with something smaller though, like a chicken.
Turkey - check.
The flag in Union Square looked rather dramatic and beautiful on Thursday morning on the way to work.
They are, without a doubt, the most scrumptiously tasty and more-ish wafels I have EVER had, they're even better than the ones I had in Belgium... they were incredible. 'Dinges' is apparently the Belgian word for 'whatchamacallit' so they're the toppings - you can have strawberries, bananas, chocolate fudge, nutella, dulce de leche, spekulees, walnuts, maple syrup or just butter... any combination you like... we had nutella and dulce de leche, I can still taste it now - it was sooooooo good!
It's based on a true story about an unmanned run-away train that was carrying highly explosive cargo and headed for a densly populated town. Once the story got going we were both properly on the edge of our seats. Denzell's great (as always) in it and Chris Pine (the grump looking bloke on the poster) was good too.
It was great to finally meet him as we'd been emailing backwards and forward over the weeks and it was even better to go and see his studio down near China Town and see some of his pieces and see one new piece in progress. He was working on a picture of a dog made completely out of bark which he was hoping to sell at the Miami Art Fair this week.
The crowd was building up all night, it was quite empty while the support band The Manchester Orchestra (not from Manchester, not an orchestra!) were playing, but by the time Kings of Leon were on stage there wasn't an empty seat in the whole building. It was a massive sell-out crowd.
I have a feeling that might have been our last gig of the year, but what a way to finish - one of our famous bands at one of the world's most famous venues!
It was so so fantastic to see you again Mops and Pops, thank you so much for coming to see me and make my birthday so special. Abi and I absolutely LOVED the Rockettes and we'll never forget the amazing treat of our delicious brunch at River Café. It was a perfect little long-weekend break for us, I hope it was for you two too.
In a city full of very straight roads, Gay Street is unusually, but very fittingly, not.
Washington Square Park was a fantastic place to start, it's such a beautiful and peaceful little park round the corner(ish) from work at the bottom of 5th Avenue. It wasn't the sunniest of days, but the colours of the trees and flower beds looked beautiful and autumnal.
From the park we walked up a couple of blocks on 5th Avenue until we got to West 10th street, where we took a left and walked further into the village, passing lots of beautiful little town houses, some of which used to be home to folks like Mark Twain and e.e.cummings...
The colours were absolutely amazing - some people had even gone to the trouble of colour co-ordinating their houses and scooters...
We continued to walk through the village, onto Greenwich Avenue and passed lots of beautiful hosues and little shops, the whole village felt very peaceful and quiet on that Monday morning, and everything looked stunning with all the bold colours...
In the middle of the little tour was the area where the Gay Right Riots kicked off, (very close to Gay Street!) - so there were a few statue figures in a small park to commemorate/celebrate the event...
There are quite a few very upmarket shops around the Perry Street and Greenwich Avenue area, a lot of big names with very small boutique style shops, there's Hilfiger, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren - all sorts, some of them look lovely and Christmassy already...
Along our walk we found the Spotted Pig restaurant. I've read about Spotted Pig a lot, it's run by some famous chef and is supposed to do amazing burgers, but apparently it's quite hard to get in to - there's even a secret private dining room for celebrities! The outside of the restaurant looked very autumnal...
There were two very friendly looking people sitting on the bench outside the restaurant...
After Greenwich Village, the walk carried on towards the Hudson River, so we strolled along there for a few blocks and then headed back inland towards the Meatpacking District, passing some more fancy restaurants and great looking shops, like the Vitra shop.
Maybe this year we'll try and have a go - once the trees been lit, I'd love to go skating in the park this year too...
The shop was just opening when Tom was here in the summer, he was able to contribute in the building of a massive red apple made entirely of lego, so it was lovely for us to be able to and see the shop too.
The rest of the shop was a bit like the M&M Store, with pic and mix sections each full of different coloured and different shaped lego bricks, it was so bright and cheery.
It was a great shop, it's lovely to know that toys like lego don't go out of fashion or become out-dated with all the computer games and stuff... it reminded me of Tom playing with his lego and me playing with my playmobile - I wonder if there's a playmobile shop somewhere?
This was the view from my chair - we must have had the best table in the place, we could see everything, the Brooklyn Bridge, the amazing skyline, even the Statue of Liberty in the distance.
The sun was shining through the windows, filling the restaurant with warm light - it was so lovely and relaxing, with the amazing food and drink - it made it hard to leave. Mops and I had a seafood trio to start, with shrimps, raw ahi tuna and little lobster dumplings, and Abi and Pops had a crab and coconut soup, then Mops, Pops and Abi all had an amazing looking steak and I had the most deliciously crispy duck... Mmmmmmm, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
We were there at the ideal time too, as the sun was beginning to set the water got more and more sparkly and the sky got more colourful. After our amazing lunch we went from the tranquil and beautiful setting of the restaurant to the not so beautiful setting of Bedstuy for a cup of tea and some homemade cheesecake (which we managed to find some room for before falling asleep!).
It was the most wonderful day, walking across the bridge and having such a delicious meal.
I always love walking across the bridge, and it was even lovelier that the four of us could walk over together in the sunshine.
Once we got to the other side, we stood on the waters edge, looking back over at Manhattan before heading to somewhere rather special for our lunch...
Radio City was looking lovely and festive on the outside, and it was even more glitzy and sparkling on the inside...
The foyer was buzzing with excitement, with the Christmas music blasting out and all the glowing wreaths and tree lights winding up the staircase, it felt incredibly Christmassy, and the festive feel continued into the music hall...
We sat down, with our novelty souvenir drinks, complete with glowing swizzle sticks and waited for the show to being - and once it did, it was fantastic from beginning to end.
The singing and dancing was so much fun - and the Rockettes looking amazing dancing in formation, perfectly synchronised and in time with each other. Each act had a different theme, from a sight-seeing bus in New York, to the Father Christmas's toy factory, from the Nutcracker to the Nativity scene (with real life camels!), they were all as entertaining as the next...
There were two acts that had been in the Christmas Extravaganza since the show began, they were the Nativity scene, which has quite dramatic and funny at the same time, and the Parade of the Toy Soldiers, which was my favourite - I can't seem to embed this video, but if you go to think link (here) you can see just a little of what the Rockettes can do...
